Masdevallia veitchiana

Ok, so I posted this in two other forums, thought I would post it here also to help people in growing high-elevation orchids in hotter temperatures...

My Masdevallia veitchiana is growing outside in temperatures at about 32°C. In nature, they are growing in full sun (slightly shaded by grasses) in temperatures from 3°C to 23°C at elevations from 2200m to 4000m...

So how can coolness be compensated in hotter temperatures for these high-elevation species? Here is what I have found;

If the high-elevation plant is placed in an area where it recieves very indirect sun, given adequate amounts of available moisture (where the medium dries only to a certain extent), and plenty of air circulation, it will thrive in the heat. If any of these factors are left out, the plant may die.

No air circulation: the plant rots
No avaiable moisture: the plant dries out
No indirect sun: the plant burns

So here is the plant, grown in these very warm conditions... hope this inspires people who have wanted to grow Masdevallia and other cool growing orchids to start growing them despite "unfavorable conditions"!

Pat, that is a flame like beauty! What an elegant bloom; I would love to grow them. Cool, I can do--I live at 9000' in the Rockies. My problem is with humidity. It's hard to get the humidity around my plants over 40%, single digits is not uncommon. No cloud forests around these parts!

Mehera, you may still be able to grow this species, even without high humidity. Again, I don't think that the humidity is the big factor, but the moisture (and more specifically, how much available moisture)... you can try to get a nice looking metal tray and some quartz pebbles, fill it with a little water, and you may get some increased humidity (if you already haven't tried that)...

This is a first blooming seedling from OZ... the flower is about the correct size, about 7.5cm high by 2.8cm wide, borne on an inflorescence about 32cm long...

I hope people start to try growing these little gems (and many others)! The ones that people love, but can only look at in books because of their "incorrect" conditions... just need to experiment outside of the ideas in orchid growing books...

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